Georgia Injury Law Blog

Second Distracted Driving Summit to Be Held in September 2010

Buoyed by the success of the first National Distracted Driving Summit last year, the US Department of Transportation has announced that a second summit will be held on September 21, 2010 in Washington DC.

It's been an eventful few months since the first summit. During this period of time, several states, including Georgia, have made progress towards the banning of technological distractions at the wheel. In Georgia, we now have a ban on texting while driving for all motorists, and a ban on the use of cell phones while driving for motorists below the age of 18. The law is now in effect, and violators may be fined $150.

There have been several other signs of progress since the summit in 2009. Earlier this year, the federal administration banned federal employees from using their government-issued cell phones while driving government-issued vehicles. That was followed by a ban on cell phone use for commercial bus and truck drivers. A new victims’ advocacy organization, established on the lines of Mothers against Drunk Driving, has been set up. The organization is called Focus Driven, and the aim is to lobby for laws against distracted driving across the country. The Department of Transportation now has a website devoted exclusively to distracted driving-related issues. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has even taken his anti-distracted driving message to the United Nations, calling on all countries to spur efforts against this menace.

With 6,000 people killed every year and counting, it's clear that distracted driving is this generation's drunk driving. Many motorists are still unconvinced about the accident risks from using a cell phone while driving. That attitude must change. 

The Atlanta auto accident lawyers at the Katz Law Firm represent injured victims of automobile accidents in and around the metro Atlanta region, and across Georgia.

Posted By Lisa Siegel In Texting and Cellphone Use while Driving | 0 Comments Permalink

The Governor’s Highway Safety Association has just released a report that outlines the different steps states have taken to combat distracted driving and thereby prevent auto accidents. The report will be of special interest to persons injured in auto accidents and their lawyers because Georgia has just passed a law that bans text messaging while driving for all motorists.

The report titledCurbing Distracted Driving: 2010 State Safety Programs details the activities and programs undertaken by various states to deal with the problem of distracted driving causing accidents. Georgia ranks very well in certain sections of the report. The state has included distracted driving as part of its Highway Safety Plan. However, Georgia does not collect data about distracted driving-related auto accidents. The National Safety Council estimates that approximately 28% of all accidents nationwide are linked to distracted driving. With statistics like this, it’s about time that Georgia also began collecting data about distracted-driving related auto accidents.

The report also contained the results of a survey conducted in 2008 by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia focusing on teen motorists. The survey found that only 28 % of teen motorists believed that talking on the cell phone while driving makes a difference to driving safety. A significant number of motorists in the survey, 57%,  said that they had seen their friends talking on the phone while driving a car. However, only 19% had witnessed a friend texting while driving.

Not surprisingly, the study also found that parental behaviors had a lot to do with how teen motorists view distractions while driving. Teenagers were much more likely to be distracted at the wheel if they saw their parents frequently texting, talking on the phone or using GPS systems while driving.

Overall, the report has a pat on the back for states around the country, including Georgia that have managed to take strong legislative measures against distractions while driving. Georgia recently joined a long line of states that ban texting while driving, and now, 28 states and the District of Colombia have bans on texting at the wheel.

If you know of a person injured in an accident by a driver who was texting or on the phone, touch base with a good Atlanta Auto Accident Lawyer.

Posted By Robert Katz In Texting and Cellphone Use while Driving | 0 Comments Permalink